Child's life more important than mother's fear of arrest

A 7-year-old Spartanburg girl would be alive today if her mother had just done the smart thing: pulled over for a blue light. Last Monday, deputies from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office were in pursuit of Errika Dominique Shelton's vehicle after noticing erratic driving during Operation Rolling Thunder, an annual enforcement operation on interstate highways.

Rather than stopping for police, Shelton cranked up the vehicle to speeds in excess of 100 mph, according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Both she and the child were injured when Shelton lost control of the rental vehicle and crashed it into an I-85 guardrail. Queniya Tykia Shelton, who was thrown from the vehicle, died Tuesday at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center from her injuries.

Perhaps some people's first question might be why police took such measures for what were, in retrospect, minor traffic violations. Indeed, on the newspaper's website, some who are making comment blame the officers for the child's death.

While high-speed chases are controversial and we're not in favor of routinely taking such extreme measures, there are a few other questions we'd like to see answered first:

Why was Shelton trying to elude officers? Why did friends and family first claim to officers that she was the child's aunt when she was the child's mother? What responsible person, no matter for what possible reason he or she might be trying to avoid police, go at such speeds with a child in the vehicle?

Why in the heck was this woman still on the road instead of somewhere she wouldn't be such a danger to others — including her own child?

Shelton's driving record, obtained by the newspaper from the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, included "numerous traffic violations." Her license had been suspended 18 times between May 2005 and February. Her lengthy criminal record includes convictions for failing to stop for a blue light, unlawful carrying of a weapon, assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest, habitual traffic offender and drug charges, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, who has defended his officers' actions, said during a news conference Friday morning that in 2011, Shelton was trying to flee from Georgia authorities during a similar operation. During the chase that followed, she hit two cars in her attempt to elude officers and only stopped when she ran out of gas. She was at the time wanted by Greenville authorities for failure to appear on failure to stop charges.

We feel great sympathy for the loss of this child's life, no matter what the circumstances. A young life cut short — almost any life cut short — is reason to mourn.

But why didn't her mother just stop the car and face up to her past so her little girl could have a future?